What would Arizona women’s basketball be without a Spanish player? Until last season, the Wildcats had featured a prominent contributor from Spain every year for almost a decade, stretching back to Lucia Alonso. Things won’t change just because of a new coach with Spanish guard Mireia Jurado making her commitment public on Sunday.
Jurado originally committed to SMU but re-opened her recruitment after the coaching change.
Jurado comes to Arizona from Segle XXI, the same club that produced former Arizona standout Helena Pueyo and many other Spanish players who play NCAA basketball. The team plays in Liga Femenina 2, Spain’s second-level league.
Last season, Jurado appeared in 16 games for Segle XXI. She averaged 6.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 0.8 assists against 1.1 turnovers, and 0.6 steals in 19.9 minutes per game.
She has also played for the Spanish national teams at the U16 and U17 levels. She played in the FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship in 2023. She averaged 6.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, and 2.0 apg against 1.3 turnovers in seven games. The Spanish side came in second, losing to France in the gold medal game.
In 2024, the 6-foot guard was part of the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup. She averaged 5.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg, and 1.0 apg against 1.7 turnovers in 15.7 mpg in seven games.
Her team advanced to the semifinals of the U17 World Cup last year. They fell to Canada in the semifinals, but this time they defeated France in the third-place game.
Arizona now has 13 players on the roster for next season, but potentially have 14 scholarships tied up due to the situation with Maya Nnaji. That means new head coach Becky Burke can definitely add one more player and potentially two.
The Wildcats have a freshman class of four. Reclassified 2025 top 100 player Kamryn Kitchen makes it five. She redshirted as a member of the 2024 class at Virginia last year.
What the team still lacks is much in the way of on-court Power 4 experience. The most experienced player at that level is Montaya Dew, who appeared in 29 games with four starts last season at Arizona. She will be coming back from her second knee injury in as many years.
The only other player on the roster with experience in games at the Power 4 level is Achol Magot, who played 34 minutes in two seasons at Texas Tech. Both Kitchen and Freddie Wallace redshirted in their only seasons with Power 4 programs.
The Wildcats have been in on other Power 4 transfers, including at least one who played a lot last season. They hosted Cincinnati transfer Chloe Mann and Texas transfer Jordana Codio on official visits. Mann ended up at GCU and Codio went home to play for Seton Hall.